


mercury

by YukinaMika



Series: 2020 [17]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe, Butterfly Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Earth-3, F/M, Jason Todd is a Talon, Jasonette July 2k20
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25508146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YukinaMika/pseuds/YukinaMika
Summary: Monarchs are poisonous. Talon prefers anything but poisons.For Jasonette July 2020's prompt 'Villain AU'
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Jason Todd
Series: 2020 [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1593016
Comments: 6
Kudos: 95





	mercury

Marinette, Jason thinks, is dangerous.

She is the kind-hearted daughter of a pair of bakers. She is the dependable friend everyone would love to have. She is also the monarch butterfly of Paris.

* * *

Mariposa is a new player in this game of half-truths and white lies and the sword of Damocles. She rose from thin air: a formless voice at first, coordinating her own team until the day she descends onto the battlefield like a fallen angel and steers the Syndicate’s operators away.

Her eyes, like mercury in the sun, glimmers with some sort of amusement as she stares at the little corner where Talon is hidden in. And she smiles, like the sweetest honey.

“Little owlets should fly back to their nest,” she tilts her head like she is face to face with a puzzle and coos, condescension dripping from every word. “It is a bit too early for them, is it not?”

He burns. It scorches him to the core as if there are thousands of tiny suns under his skin. The demand for blood roars in his ears and his hand wraps around the familiar hilt of one of the throwing knives.

He might not be the first to be Talon neither is it his birthright for the mantle. His aim, however, speaks of the hellish training where he was broken down and rebuilt – reforged into the blade that is fit for Owlman’s hand.

There is a thinnest red line where his knife touches her skin, the barest hint of blood beading at her chin. This is where fear would bloom like a flower on the face of his victims and Talon would laugh before a cut across their throat free them from their misery.

The smile on Mariposa’s lips turn into a full grin that is full of teeth, bared like a predator finding amusement in its prey’s struggle.

Red looks fetching on her.

* * *

Owlman sent him on a reconnaissance mission. A chance, Richard leered, to spread his wings.

The little bakery looks homey with the lovely aroma of freshly baked bread. The people frolic around like ants around a piece of crumb, rushing and going on with their insignificant lives.

Jason relaxes into his seat, fingering the edge of the page of the novel he brought to pass the time. The cup of coffee smells heavenly amidst the bread and cookies and sweets.

He pointedly does not look up from his book when the cashier approaches, each step too silent for someone who lives a carefree life without the darkness that he wades through each night.

“Dear customer,” her voice is the sugary sweets that the little kids love. “Would you like another cup of coffee?”

He turns the page and waits. A second then two and three and before he knows it, she has been there for a full minute, quiet as a statue and still beaming away with the fake, fake smile.

“May I help you?” he looks up from his book, letting irritation mars his tone and displeasure paints his features.

Anyone else and they would recoil, perhaps stuttering some of the poorest excuse while backpedaling from where they came from. The little girl smiles still.

He wonders if it would stay on her lips when he taints them with blood.

* * *

Monarchs are poisonous. Talon prefers anything but poisons.

Their size, he thinks, might have been one of the factors. Mariposa is slight and delicate, like a court lady hiding a well-hidden blade in her silk sleeves. Talon came from the dirtiest streets where tooth and nails are sacrificed for another day of breathing.

Mariposa smiles when their eyes meet across the room. Talon wants nothing but to make her bleed, to dye her in red and sully those lips with blood.

“Thank you for having us,” Mariposa inclines her head, demure like a house cat but Talon knows better than to trust her tone.

After all, those that are most beautiful are the most dangerous.

Honey catches flies and Mariposa, contrary to her name, is a spider spinning her webs. She bows her head like the demure girl that she is not and phrases her words in the way that paints the illusion of her as an innocent little fawn amidst the lions.

Talon wishes nothing more that ripping that façade away, tearing that mirage until it is nothing but little bits and pieces of lies. He wants to undress her to the last layers until she is bared under him, painted in the red that suits her more than the purple of her brooch.

He wonders how her blood would taste on his tongue.

* * *

“She is not as she appears,” Richard murmurs into his ear and the tip of his blade teasing against the carotid on the side of his neck. “Did you know that, Little Wing?”

Owlman continues to type like his one of his two protégés is not holding a knife to his other protégé’s throat. He never interferes and maybe Jason hates him for that.

He swallows and wills his pulse to slow down. Time and time and the feeling of blade against his skin is never one he can get used to.

Talon is not to show weakness. A moment of hesitation is enough to cripple a bird.

“Of course,” he grits out, smoothing down his haywire nerves. “Who do you think did the reconnaissance?”

Richard hums and the knife shifts minutely, still too much close for his liking.

Jason trusts Richard about as far as he can throw him. He would not put it past his predecessor to slit his throat and make it look like an accident. After all, it was Richard who taught him that particular art amongst many others.

“Talon’s place is by Owlman’s side,” comes the whisper – a warning against his ear. “Birds of a feather stick together.”

* * *

The cashier hands him the bill, smiling like she knows something that Jason does not. There is another piece of folded paper.

Internally, he snorts. Must be her number.

“Little owlet,” says the cashier, like a cat that got the canary. “Enjoy your meal.”

He is ready to whip out one of his hidden knives and Mariposa thumbs the brooch at her neck, eyes glinting like mercury.

Fire runs in his veins.

* * *

“I am Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” she murmurs into his ear, the touch of her finger against his skin burns as poison courses through his veins. “I am Mariposa, the monarch of Paris.”

He heaves through painful gasps of air that seem to be determined to tear his lungs apart. His vision swims and the only thing he can fixate on is the grin full of teeth that speaks of danger.

“I dislike sharing what is mine,” she croons and her eyes glows like mercury: dangerous and beautiful. “You understand, don’t you, little bird?”

**Author's Note:**

> There's a Villain AU prompt and I have ['an idea I was shelving for someday.' ](https://bunathebunny.tumblr.com/post/617928431273934848/ok-but-have-you-considered-maribat-in-earth-3) Sure it's not something I expected it to be but I'm so proud of this.


End file.
